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Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Audiobook Review: The French Chef in America by Alex Prud’homme

Once upon a time in America, ‘furrin’ food had a different
definition. Boundaries were built by immigrants settling an area.
You couldn’t get a decent enchilada in Vermont. Ask for a bagel in New Mexico
and they’d scratch their heads. Certain types of cuisine though seemed to
bypass borders, particularly French. It had the reputation for being exotic
and a little mysterious, certainly something you didn’t prepare at home. Then
came this mountain of a woman (all 6’2” of her) with a distinctive warble and
boundless enthusiasm. Julia Child led us from the culinary wasteland to a world
of international flavors and encouraged us all to be courageous cooks. So we
were.

Although she made her first mark as coauthor of Mastering the Art of French Cooking,
that was only Julia’s first incarnation. The
French Chef in America is the story of her later years when she went on to
host a succession of TV shows for public television, specials, and collaborate
on other cookbooks. After 17 years and 250 shows for public television she
switched to commercial TV doing spots at Good Morning America. It’s a tribute to
her remarkable abilities as a culinary educator that her career didn’t begin
until she was nearly 50 and didn’t stop until her death at 92.

Alex Prud’homme, who is also Julia’s nephew, writes with
affection. He details Julia’s long friendship with Simone Beck, her loving
marriage with Paul, and the successful collaboration with Jacques Pepin on
television. Readers may be surprised to learn about her bawdy sense of humor
when she’d try to crack him up on camera. “There’s a nice piece of tail for
you,” she’d say offering Jacques a lobster tail. Or she’d peer into the camera with
a chicken and a straight face. “Jacques is a great boner.”

The book covers a lot of ground from her relationship with
PBS, the upstarts of Novelle Cuisine, her support of new chefs across all
culinary boundaries, to her disgust with the food police and fear of fat. “The
only time to eat diet food is when you’re waiting for a steak to cook.” Common
sense was always her guide. She was against cultism and felt much of the organic
movement was built on balderdash, dousing the public with misinformation and
fear. She was all for hard scientific facts before passing judgment.

This review is from the audiobook and, unfortunately,
the weakest part is Alex Prud’homme, who also chose to narrate. He’s not awful.
He doesn’t mispronounce words or stammer, but a narrator should impart
something extra other than a flat reading. He’s obviously not a voice actor and
the narration is more like a college lecture series than something to enjoy on a road trip. The text is well-written so my recommendation is buy the print or e-version, but skip
the audiobook.

I received this audiobook from Blogging for Books in exchange for a
review.